I'm back from my vacation to the US, the jetlag has mostly passed, so back to OSNews it is! So, Windows 8 has been out for only a little while, and we're already moving on to the next 'version' of Windows. Version is between quotation marks, because unlike previous releases, this doesn't appear to be the a monolithic single release. Instead, Windows Blue, as it's currently codenamed, is more of a procedural change than a technical change: Windows is moving to yearly releases for all devices - PC, tablet, phone.

"They didn't get 7 "right the first time". Windows 7 is Windows Vista Mark 2. It is their second attempt. There is a reason it was released just two years after Vista.

Before Vista, there was a new Microsoft OS every two years. "

No, every 3 years.

The Vista cycle was an abnormality, but one that came because of the state of the code and the fact that they had to restart development.

Yes, after WinXP (2001) there was another version of Windows (2004) that was not released - tossed out because of performance, etc - development was restarted and 3 years later they had Vista (2006/2007). So even then it wasn't really an abnormality, they just didn't release what they had developed to the public.

Of course, that mishap also caused them to re-evaluation how everything is interconnected in Windows and start working towards a simpler architectural implementation - which is why Win7 came a little earlier, and Win8 a little earlier, and why Win Blue will be so early and potentially able to do yearly releases.